I'm trying to do a puppet show of Herman Hesse's Siddhartha. Nothing fancy :) - it's my mother's birthday tomorrow, so this will be her present from my brother, friend and me- all planned and put together in a day! Am trying to write the script, and I want to make it a musical. I need to put songs to tunes, so I was wondering if you people could suggest tunes (traditional, or otherwise), if I tell you the theme of the song. Once I have a tune, can write the words so they fit ;).


The songs are:

1) The joy Siddhartha brings- This will be first his Brahman father singing about his pride in his son, then his mother, and then Govinda, his friend.
2) Siddhartha's sorrow (perhaps part of the previous song, but with a sorrowful tone, or could be another tune) – Despite his excellence as a Brahman, he is not happy, peaceful inside.

(Siddhartha leaves the brahmans, and becomes an ascetic)

3) The Samana Song – The samanas (ascetics) sing about the life they lead – meditating, fasting, suffering voluntarily, all forms of self denial.
4) Siddhartha's dissatisfaction – again, Siddhartha finds that he is not happy, he may deny the self almost all the time, but somehow it always comes back to him (again, this could be part of the previous song, but sorrowfully).

Siddhartha then hears of an enlightened man, Gotama, and leaves the Samanas to go in search of him.

5) Siddhartha's love for the Buddha – " it seemed to
him as if every joint of every finger of this hand was of these
teachings, spoke of, breathed of, exhaled the fragrant of, glistened of
truth. This man, this Buddha was truthful down to the gesture of his
last finger. This man was holy. Never before, Siddhartha had venerated
a person so much, never before he had loved a person as much as this
one."

6) Siddhartha's conversation with the Buddha – this would be a duet, though the Buddha would speak little. The gist of it - "I have not doubted for a single moment that you are Buddha, that you have found salvation from death. It has come to you in the course
of your own search, on your own path, through thoughts, through
meditation, through realizations, through enlightenment. It has not
come to you by means of teachings! And--thus is my thought, oh exalted
one,--nobody will obtain salvation by means of teachings!"

7) Siddhartha's awakening – After rejecting his former beliefs about the world's suspicious, illusory character, Siddhartha becomes enthralled by its beauteous details. He reflects on his previous experiences and realizes that "he had never found his Self, because he had wanted to trap it in the net of thoughts". This song would be about the beauty of everything that Siddhartha sees.

Siddhartha then goes to the city, to experience the pleasures of life.

8) The love song – he meets a beautiful courtesan, and she teaches him the art of love. She also tells him she wants him to be rich and well dressed and he agrees to make money.

He then gets trapped in endless money making and pleasure seeking. Finally realising what he has become, he leaves the city and the courtesan and leaves the town.


I think this should be enough for now :). I'd greatly appreciate ANY suggestions - the puppet show's on tomorrow!